MTD Products
) | industry = Lawn maintenance | products = Consumer and Commercial Lawn equipment | revenue = $1.190 billion USD (2006) | net_income = | homepage = MTD Products Inc. }} MTD Products (Modern Tool and Die Company), of Cleveland, Ohio, USA began in 1932, and is a family-owned, private company. They began as tool and die makers, and now are manufacturers of outdoor power equipment for the mass market. MTD's main competitors are Briggs & Stratton and Husqvarna. History Theo Moll, Emil Jochum and Erwin Gerhard formed a partnership to purchase the assets of thr Modern Tool and Die Company located on Power Avenue in Cleveland. The initial capitol investment was $4500 and the company’s end product was tools and dies. Timeline * MTD’s first products were perforating dies and a rolling machine for making window channels for Standard Products. * 1933 12 employees in MTD and by 1934 the head count was 60 employees. * 1936 the company produces its first automotive stampings products, grilles for Graham-Paige automobiles. * 1952 the controlling interest in Midwest Industries Inc.' is purchased. With this MTD begins to manufacture bicycles, velocipedes, pedal cars and playground equipment. * 1954 - enters the garden equipment industry with introduction of a line of wheelbarrows. * 1958 - enters the lawn & garden power equipment industry with the production of an 18” power rotary mower. * 1959 - takes a giant step into future growth when they begin the manufacturing of self-propelled lawn mowers, Garden tractors and other power equipment. * 1962 - Purchases Sehl Engineering Ltd. of Canada, this later became MTD Products, Ltd. (today’s MTD Canada). * 1966 - purchases Industrial Plastics Company in Cleveland, OH, USA. * 1968 - starts snow thrower production. * 1975 - purchases Yard-Man name from Montgomery Ward. * 1980 - A new 160,000 sq. ft. manufacturing plant Built in Brownsville, Tennessee, USA. This plant has been recently shut down. * 1981 - The Cub Cadet Product line is acquired from International Harvester and renamed Cub Cadet Corporation (CCC), and the White Outdoor Products Company is acquired from the old White Motor Company. * 1985 - Martin, Tennessee Plant begins operation, and Arnold Corporation is acquired. * 1986 - Aircap Industries in Tupelo, Mississippi, USA is acquired. * 1990 Customer Service call center is established * 1994 - Modern Transmission Development Company plant built in Leitchfield, Kentucky, USA * 1996 - Joint venture with Lesco creates Commercial Turf Products. * 2000 - Opening of a Hungarian manufacturing facility with expanded capacity for electrical products and acquired Ryobi giving them the capacity to produce 1.5 million engines and related hand-held products. * 2001 - acquired Garden Way including the Troy-Bilt and Bolens brands. * 2006 - Began building lawn equipment under the Massey Ferguson brand for sale in Europe.MTD France - tondeuse, autoportée, matériel d'entretien de jardin * 2007 - Began building the low-end lawn & garden tractors for Toro (company). * 2008 - Began having a third-party company (located in China) manufacture a new line of engines for the Craftsman 2008 line of Snowthrowers. They are no longer building them with Tecumseh engines, and Tecumseh is bankrupt. Brands Owned * Bolens website * Columbia website * Cub Cadet website ** Cub Cadet Commercial ** Cub Cadet Yanmar (joint with Yanmar) website * Farm King * GardenWay * Gold Series * Gutbrod website ** Gutbrod-Kehrer * Lawnflite * Mastercut * Mow Master ** Mow Master Mastercut * MTD website ** MTD Black Edition ** MTD Gold website ** MTD Mowmaster ** MTD Platinum Pro ** MTD Platinum SD ** MTD Pro website ** MTD Super ** MTD Taral ** MTD Tradesman ** MTD Turbomax ** MTD 2000 Elite * Novotrac * Rasentrac * Ryobi (sold at Costco)) website * Troy-Bilt website * Ventzki * Ventzki MTD * White Outdoor website * Yard Machines website * Yard-Man website ** Yard-Man Elite ** Yard-Man Select * YardWorks Private Label Brands Produced MTD currently builds or has built various other brands and store-brand Lawn & Garden tractors over the years, including: See also * Lawn mowers * Garden Tractors * List of Tractor Manufacturers * Special Purpose Machines References External links * MTD website * MTD UK website Distributed by E.P. Barus * Various MTD-built Lawn & Garden Tractors * Review of Yardman Mowers Category:Lawn and garden tractors Category:Companies of the United States Category:Lawn mowers Category:Companies founded in 1932 Category:MTD Products